Twitter is great that way. I know of no better forum for validating one’s seemingly universal thoughts and feelings. Yesterday, I got seized with a severe case of eco² panic. Eco like green. Eco like economic. Images of CO2 going nuts, and us still not getting our act together, despite almost daily global warming alerts. And the specter of another Great Depression, only worse this time around.

Thank God, Franke was there to tweet back prompto to shake me up good:

I must say, I felt a bit ashamed for having given into “defeatism”. Imagine if all the citizens voiced out their secret despair as I did. That would be the end of it. Even Bill’s chiming in and lecturing Barack, telling him he’s not hopeful enough. Yes, we can. And we shall. Still, I could not let go completely of the reality of my malaise.

That was a pretty wishy-washy tweet. I wasn’t even sure where I was going with it. Until Franke’s response:

Thank you, Franke for gifting me, us with your such a wonderful image. Now, whenever I start feeling blue, I will imagine a green window, opening to a new landscape of windmills, and solar farms, and electric cars, and workers going about their green jobs . . .

Saw Bob, my shrink, this morning for one of my occasional tune-ups . . . Bob is a wise man, who has been around for many years. He told me 2008 has been the worse it has ever been, in terms of people feeling stressed out. How can one stay immune to the mass of catastrophic news coming at us every day, global warming being one of them. I am especially thinking of my teenage children and all their friends. It is hard enough dealing with the turmoil of adolescence. Add to it, this massive cloud of free-floating collective anxiety, and you’ve got an explanation to the current malaise amongst college students. Our babies are not doing well.

One big culprit is the lack of a real leader that can take charge. Today’s CBS News poll showed that 81% of Americans believing the country is on the wrong track.